All posts tagged: electrical grid

Silicon Valley’s vacationland needs a new energy provider just as AI is driving prices up

Silicon Valley’s vacationland needs a new energy provider just as AI is driving prices up

Published by skeptic

It’s no secret that AI data centers have been straining the grid. But Silicon Valley has been relatively insulated from it all, thanks to high land and power prices that have pushed hyperscaler projects elsewhere.  The tech elite might soon get a taste of the power crunch, though. The Bay Area’s vacationland, Lake Tahoe, has less than a year to find a new energy supplier. By May 2027, Liberty Utilities’ agreement with NV Energy will come to an end. NV Energy’s power will be redirected elsewhere in Nevada, where data centers have been booming. Both Liberty Utilities and NV Energy have said the wind-down has been long planned, and NV Energy said data centers aren’t to blame. But it’s hard to see how they don’t play a role. NV Energy alone has requests for more than 22 gigawatts of load, which as a Bloomberg report points out, is more than 40x what Lake Tahoe uses at its peak.  If data centers weren’t in play, it’s easy to see a world in which Liberty Utilities and …

Power prices are up 76% on America’s biggest grid, and a watchdog is pointing fingers

Power prices are up 76% on America’s biggest grid, and a watchdog is pointing fingers

Published by skeptic

The largest electrical grid in the U.S., the PJM Interconnection, saw prices nearly double over the last year, according to a report published yesterday by Monitoring Analytics, an independent market monitor that serves as a sort of watchdog for the PJM grid. The culprit? Data centers. Wholesale prices for one megawatt-hour of electricity rose to $136.53, up from $77.78 at the same time last year. Crain’s Chicago Business was first to report on the spike. Monitoring Analytics pointed the finger at data centers and PJM’s failure to handle their surging demand adequately. The market monitor pulled no punches. “The price impacts on customers have been very large and are not reversible,” Monitoring Analytics wrote. “The price impacts will be even larger in the near term unless the issues associated with data center load are addressed in a timely manner.”  PJM is a ripe target for such criticism. In 2022, just as data center construction was ramping up, the grid operator paused applications for new generating sources, citing a years-long backlog. It only recently started accepting …

What will power the grid in 2035? The race is wide open

What will power the grid in 2035? The race is wide open

Published by skeptic

AI’s insatiable demand for power has tech companies hunting for new energy sources — a search that has fueled competition and investment into fusion and fission startups. For many, natural gas is the easy answer for 24/7, baseload power. It’s tested, inexpensive, and widely available. But the war in the Middle East exposed its vulnerable supply chain after Iranian drone strikes took out a significant portion of natural gas infrastructure in Qatar, a major exporter. At the same time, surging demand has created a waitlist for gas turbines so long that today’s orders probably won’t be fulfilled until the early 2030s. Those delays not only pose a risk to tech companies, but also to the natural gas industry itself.  In the U.S., 40% of the natural gas consumed today goes toward generating electricity. By the time the turbine shortages relent, the industry could be flush with a fresh crop of competitors. Both small modular nuclear reactor (SMR) startups and fusion power startups plan to start connecting their first commercial power plants to the grid in …

The best AI investment might be in energy tech

The best AI investment might be in energy tech

Published by skeptic

Venture capitalists have placed increasingly bigger bets on AI startups, investing over half a trillion dollars into the sector over the last five years. But these days, the smartest AI investment might be in energy, according to a report by Sightline Climate. Researchers found that up to 50% of data center projects that have been announced might be delayed. One of the biggest culprits is access to power.  Of the 190 gigawatts worth of data centers the company is tracking, only 5 gigawatts are under construction. About 6 gigawatts of data center projects in Sightline’s database came online last year. A far larger percentage — about 36% — saw their timelines slip in 2025. The delays may eventually trickle down and affect large enterprises and other companies that use AI for their businesses.  That supply-demand squeeze is an opportunity for investors. Here’s why.  Big tech companies like Google and Meta have devoted large parts of their balance sheets to develop solar, wind, and nuclear projects. These companies are also supporting emerging technologies like Form Energy’s …

Google and Tesla think we’re managing the electrical grid all wrong

Google and Tesla think we’re managing the electrical grid all wrong

Published by skeptic

Google, Tesla, and data center developer Verrus are among a group of companies arguing that the electrical grid is being underutilized and they want everyone — especially politicians — to know about it. The three companies along with HVAC giant Carrier, virtual power plant company Renew Home, distributed energy resource developer Sparkfund, and smart electrical panel startup Span founded a new group called Utilize to get that message across. The group, which launched Tuesday, is advocating to change the way the grid is built and used. The group points out, correctly, that the grid is designed for brief bursts of high demand; most of the time there’s lots of capacity that goes unused. Utilize thinks that should change. The group argues that smarter ways to use that capacity already exist. Utilize name-checks a number of those solutions, including battery storage, demand response, and virtual power plants, all of which have emerged en masse over the last decade, but remain under utilized. (Oh, that’s where the name comes from.) In many cases, those new technologies are …

Tem raises M to remake electricity markets using AI

Tem raises $75M to remake electricity markets using AI

Published by skeptic

As AI data centers drive up electricity prices, London-based startup Tem thinks AI might be able to help solve it, too. Tem has built an energy transaction engine that relies on AI to cut prices relative to other energy traders. The company has signed up more than 2,600 business customers throughout the U.K. on the promise that buying energy from its utility division can save them up to 30% on their energy bills. The startup recently closed an oversubscribed $75 million Series B led by Lightspeed Venture Partners with participation from AlbionVC, Allianz, Atomico, Hitachi Ventures, Revent, Schroders Capital, and Voyager Ventures, TechCrunch has exclusively learned.  The round values Tem at more than $300 million, a source familiar with the deal told TechCrunch. The startup plans to use the funding to help expand to Australia and the U.S., starting with Texas. “We’re in a nice position where we kind of have control over our own profitability. So I could have chosen not to raise at all and had a lovely, nice bootstrap business in some …

Trump administration wants tech companies to buy B of power plants they may not use

Trump administration wants tech companies to buy $15B of power plants they may not use

Published by skeptic

The Trump administration wants the largest electricity grid to add $15 billion worth of new power generation — and he wants tech companies to pay for it, even if they don’t need the capacity. The White House and the governors of several states in the region want grid operator PJM to hold an auction for 15-year contracts for new generating capacity. The administration said it wants tech companies to bid on the contracts even if they don’t ultimately need the power for their data centers. Demand from data centers is expected to increase nearly threefold over the next decade. PJM said it was reviewing the “statement of principles” and that it would soon release the results of a months-long planning process that is looking to add new capacity to the grid. The statement is nonbonding, though, and behind the scenes, PJM doesn’t appear to be jazzed about the administration attempting to force its hand. “We don’t have a lot to say on this,” PJM spokesman Jeffrey Shields told Bloomberg yesterday. “We were not invited to the event …

Why the electrical grid needs more software

Why the electrical grid needs more software

Published by skeptic

One of the nicest comments people have made about the electrical grid was … nothing. The grid works best when it fades into the background.  That low-profile status has changed in recent years as fires in California and freezes in Texas raised awareness of the electrical grid. But it was in 2025, when the electrical grid — and concerns about demand, supply, pricing, and the strain on natural resources — moved into the spotlight. And a new batch of startups have emerged with a software-as-a-solution pitch. Electricity rates are up 13% in this U.S. this year driven by an AI boom that has seeped into unlikely places, including repurposing supersonic jet engines for data center duty and working on beaming solar power down from space. And that pace of growth isn’t expected to slow; the amount of electricity data centers use is projected to nearly triple in the coming decade. That forecast has fueled consumer frustration around pricing and drawn the ire of environmental groups that have called for a nationwide moratorium on new projects. Utilities, …